What happened to the electric car?
02-24-2008, 03:34 PM
I'm not a scientist or engineer, but I suppose someone somewhere has compared the environmental impact of the electric car with the infernal combustion engine? Unless one has a wind generator in the garden the electricity to charge the batteries has to be sourced from a commercial power company which is just as likely to be gas, oil, coal or nuclear, not exactly environmentally impact free. Car and battery production also use some pretty toxic manufacturing processes.
I love the idea of being able to get around in a manner that places no stress on the environment, but the reality of my life is very different and I guess I'm not the only one.
Any government that is truly serious about encouraging people out of their cars has to put in place a seriously workable public transport infrastructure first. The privatised systems we now have are very unlikely to come up with the necessary investment to do anything other than tinker with existing custom and practice. They are handcuffed to the shareholders and their need for "healthy" bonuses. A trip into town for an evening is unthinkable in rural areas without a car, or a very expensive taxi. My 180 mile round trip to the nearest airport by train often costs much more than the 1200 miles of flying that follows it, although I can forget trying to get there before 10 am or arriving back after 8pm. Railcards are meant to encourage repeated use of the train, but are unusable when they might be most useful. If I want to use my railcard to get into London, I cannot get there much before mid-day. I could (and would prefer to) do my whole journey between The Fens and Geneva by train, but what incentive is there when the train journey costs four times as much? Sometimes one has to be able to afford one's principles
Things are a little better in France, but I am at a loss to see why a 90 minute drive takes 6 hours by train. The urban transport system over the border in Geneva is pretty good, but again an evening out is dictated by the timetabling of buses in France.
London has recently pioneered free transport for young people, a bold and imaginative attempt to get people into the habit of using public transport. Unfortunately, there have been some problems with examples of anti-social behaviour spoiling this experiment. Travelling by public transport has too many stories of things happening to people that make them feel unsafe at night and, sadly, sometimes during the daytimes too.
As for buses, being less polluting ... have you ever stood behind one? :eek:
Sorry, we were talking about electric cars, weren't we? Whoops :redface:
I love the idea of being able to get around in a manner that places no stress on the environment, but the reality of my life is very different and I guess I'm not the only one.
Any government that is truly serious about encouraging people out of their cars has to put in place a seriously workable public transport infrastructure first. The privatised systems we now have are very unlikely to come up with the necessary investment to do anything other than tinker with existing custom and practice. They are handcuffed to the shareholders and their need for "healthy" bonuses. A trip into town for an evening is unthinkable in rural areas without a car, or a very expensive taxi. My 180 mile round trip to the nearest airport by train often costs much more than the 1200 miles of flying that follows it, although I can forget trying to get there before 10 am or arriving back after 8pm. Railcards are meant to encourage repeated use of the train, but are unusable when they might be most useful. If I want to use my railcard to get into London, I cannot get there much before mid-day. I could (and would prefer to) do my whole journey between The Fens and Geneva by train, but what incentive is there when the train journey costs four times as much? Sometimes one has to be able to afford one's principles
Things are a little better in France, but I am at a loss to see why a 90 minute drive takes 6 hours by train. The urban transport system over the border in Geneva is pretty good, but again an evening out is dictated by the timetabling of buses in France.
London has recently pioneered free transport for young people, a bold and imaginative attempt to get people into the habit of using public transport. Unfortunately, there have been some problems with examples of anti-social behaviour spoiling this experiment. Travelling by public transport has too many stories of things happening to people that make them feel unsafe at night and, sadly, sometimes during the daytimes too.
As for buses, being less polluting ... have you ever stood behind one? :eek:
Sorry, we were talking about electric cars, weren't we? Whoops :redface:
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